


Domesticated

by Strawberrybats



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, and also enjoy being older and stuff!!!, happy birthday you nerd!!, have ur niche werewolf au, this was very fun to do i hope you enjoy it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 04:25:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7419700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strawberrybats/pseuds/Strawberrybats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Umi, an angel new to earth, might have a less than angelic attitude around her, but it didn't mean Kotori was going to toss her onto the streets. </p>
<p>She was hoping she could at least get her to try on some cute clothes first. </p>
<p>((a werewolf and angel story requested by my lovely friend, whose BIRTHDAY IT IS, ,,,, i love you))</p>
            </blockquote>





	Domesticated

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tsubahono](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsubahono/gifts).



> It's been a while since i did a one shot, but hopefully this isn't lacking in quality for it.

Kotori liked to be up with the sun. There was something satisfying about stretching her back out and pouring herself a warm drink in the early hours while the sun rose behind her and shone through her window.

That part was definitely an exaggeration, but it sounded nice and it’s what she told her mom she was doing over the phone whenever she got an early morning call.

At the moment, the sun was doing less ‘gloriously shining in a convenient place’ and more ‘peeking through at the exact right angle through the windows to blind her no matter where in her apartment she stands’. Kotori had a handful of ways to deal with it, but instead of closing the blinds or just walking into another room, she decided that sitting on the counter and finishing her tea there so she could remember to put it straight into the sink for once and keeping her head angled away from the window for the next twenty minutes would do the trick. If she kept her face at juuust the right angle, she could still watch TV without the glare….

This was also a pretty nice morning routine, she reasoned.

She sipped the rest of her drink and deposited it into the sink, stretching again. Time for the rest of her day’s plans.

Kotori slipped her shoes on at the door and bid a silent farewell to the apartment beside her.

It was a really nice day out, she thought, distractedly. The sun was shining, birds were singing, she wasn’t going to be late to work, and she’d gotten a full eight hours of sleep.

She had only been able to enjoy the breeze for a short while before it blew something less than pleasant in her direction: the smell of blood.

Kotori stopped stiff in her tracks before realizing that time could really be of the essence in whatever situation she was about to walk into, and running to the source, path to her workplace forgotten in her haste. She just hoped that it wasn’t anything extremely bad she was smelling – for once in her life, she would actually be happy to see roadkill.

A few meters off the sidewalk, behind a building near the public park, she found her.

It was difficult, being the person to stumble upon what she feared could be the site of a murder, finding a woman her age limp on the concrete, but it was becoming very apparent that this was not her everyday find.

Spread from the woman’s back in awkward angles, Kotori saw wings – splayed out in a mess of white down and ruffled primary feathers. A few lay scattered about the scene.

So, that’s what this was, huh. The discovery actually did wonders for her nerves, and Kotori crept closer to try and take a pulse. If what she remembered from health class and all those shows was right….she knelt carefully at the woman’s side and tipped her head just slightly to the side, but found it was unnecessary, because she stirred a little at the contact.

Kotori let out a sigh of relief. This, whoever she was, would be fine. Still, she’d definitely need some time to recuperate. Resignedly, she pulled her phone out and called her workplace. “Hello? Yes, it’s Kotori….I’m really sorry, Christina, could you take my shift?....Yes, I know it’s last minute, I just…I got some bad news.” Her co-worker accepted the excuse, wishing her luck and teasingly saying she owed her one.

With that out of the way, Kotori renewed her efforts to observe the stranger.

There wasn’t a _profuse_ amount of blood, and while yes, it was a little worrisome to see a wing bent in that way, and yes, there was still blood, the lady was clearly not a human, and Kotori happened to have a little firsthand experience with the _wonders_ that could do for recovery.

She looked around until she finally settled on the fire escape, and it clicked for her what might have been the cause of this – she fell and hit it a couple of times on the way down. Surprisingly clumsy.

Kotori tried once more to gently lift the woman’s head, brushing the hair out of her face. Whoever she was, she squeezed her eyes shut tightly. The hair fell back over her face. Kotori pushed it back again. This continued until she gave up and used a ponytail to keep it out of the way permanently, because it kept sticking to the cut in her lip and it was bothering the other girl. “I’m going to take you to my apartment, alright? Nod if you can hear me.”

She didn’t nod, but she did groan, which Kotori took as an answer regardless.

Kotori scooped her up and ran back to her apartment as quickly as possible, not wanting to be caught looking like she just murdered someone _or_ carrying someone that was beyond rational explanation.

That in mind, she felt pretty damn good when she finally dumped her onto the couch, although she was careful not to crush the wings under the weight of the woman. Kotori fished out her antiseptics and other bits of her first aid kid, ignoring the blood on her work uniform.

There was more groaning from the couch while she tried to get whatever work she could done on the woman, finding a few shallow cuts on her leg – she had to pull up the dress to get at those, but whatever, it was helping, so she probably wouldn’t care – and patching them each up with a bandaid decorated with smiling cartoon birds and green backgrounds. This was a waste of bandaids, probably, but truth be told Kotori had been waiting to use these for too long to not use as many as she could.

She cupped the woman’s face and tried to clean off the cut on her lip and get rid of any lingering blood beneath her nose. She had a bit of a black eye, but if she could only tell from this close then it was nothing that couldn’t be hidden with makeup or –

Her eyes opened. Kotori blinked at the abruptness in the action and waited for a reaction, but didn’t get one until the woman narrowed her eyes and managed a few coherent words. “Who are you?”

“Kotori Minami. I found you next to the fire escape –“

“I’m….aware of where I was found.” She replied, with a grimace. “It’s my understanding that you’re trying to give me medical attention, correct?”

She smiled wryly. “That was the plan. Did I miss a spot? I didn’t want to feel around your wings, but they look like they were bent in a strange way.”

“I’ll be fine. Thank you for this.” She sat up, trying to work out what was evidently a very tough knot in her back.

“So, um, do you have a name, miss?” Kotori asked tentatively.

The other woman froze on the spot as though she’d just been caught doing something mortifyingly embarrassing. “Oh! Oh, I’m – I’m so sorry, I’ve forgotten my manners – I’m Umi. Umi Sonoda.” She straightened out to her full height on the couch. “I’m an angel.”

“You could say that again,” Kotori replied, eyeing up the girl in front of her’s well-toned arms.

“Come again?” Umi asked, looking perplexed.

“Nothing! Just, taking in the news, heheh.” Kotori replied, embarrassed. She ran a hand through her hair. “I was going to go out on a limb and guess that you’re new to this century, huh?”

Umi looked somewhat bashful. “….Was it obvious?”

Kotori shrugged. “Well, I guess someone else might have thought you were cosplaying or something, but people don’t exactly go barefoot and wearing plain white gowns around here. Or have gigantic wings.” She pointed out dryly. “Can you hide those at all? You’re going to have a hard time being in public if you can’t.”

Umi shrugged stiffly. “I cannot hide them; they’re a reminder of my duty.”

Oooh, fun. Talking her out of whatever this was sounded like a blast. Kotori tried not to look too noticeably concerned when she responded. “I can see why that would be important, but if you want to blend in with humans, you can’t really go parading around with them out and about. If there’s any way you could dispel them for a little while….” She trailed off, seeing Umi’s curious look. “Something wrong?”

“You say humans as though you aren’t one.” She pointed out slowly.

Kotori shrugged, offering a what-can-you-do sort of smile. “Ah, you caught me there. I’m not.”

Umi blinked, obviously surprised at the easy confession. “Then, you are..?”

“I’m a werewolf.” She replied confidently, still offering the smile. Seeing the lack of obvious response from the other girl, she elaborated a little. “You know, like a shapeshifter that only does wolves.”

“I know what a werewolf is.” Umi replied stiffly, and Kotori couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the interaction.

“Well, if you say so, I guess. I just didn’t want you to think –“

“It’s an immoral life. The gods didn’t intend humans to be in any other form.”

Kotori narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t ask for their opinions, did I?”

Umi glared right back, but before she could even dream of escalating it any further, Kotori shut her down. “I brought you into my home and tended to your injuries, so the least you could do is act cordial for however long it takes for you to leave. Do you understand me?”

She sucked in a deep breath. “….Yes, I do. Sinful or otherwise, you did me a favor and I owe you that much.”

Kotori nodded curtly and went back to her business, rubbing the alcohol onto the cuts a little less gently. Umi stopped her when she got to trying to figure out where the wings were bleeding from, stating that she’d prefer Kotori not touch them, and she shrugged it off, handing over the first aid kid and telling her what everything was for.

While her guest preoccupied herself with that, Kotori retreated into her room to nurse her own wounds.

“I let her into my house and she tries to tell me I’m doing things wrong…” She grumbled, crossing her arms. Still, eventually she loosened up a little on the matter. Umi was new, she’d said she was new. Coming straight from wherever it was angels came from and onto the face of earth was probably jarring, and whatever mentality Umi had, it was probably from a point in time where werewolves had been viewed as a legitimate concern and not thought to be nonexistent because of how much better at hiding they’d gotten.

Besides, Umi didn’t even have _shoes_. As a designer, Kotori found the lack of proper attire tragic and it was yet another reason to forgive the very attractive girl, even if she was kind of being a bitch –

Kotori really, _really_ wanted to have her model a few things.

….What could she say? She was a simple girl of simple pleasures, and said pleasures happened to include trying to convince pretty girls to try on her newer designs. That in mind, Kotori still didn’t take kindly to being slighted, and she had the _perfect_ idea for getting back at her new acquaintance.

She cracked her knuckles.

Time to go get changed.

* * *

 

A good five minutes later, Kotori meandered back into the living room, absentmindedly sniffing at all the furniture in an attempt to make sure Umi noticed her before she could walk all the way up to her.

She did, and shot Kotori a dour look. “Really? Must you?”

‘ _Oh, I must._ ’ She replied, startling Umi. Kotori wandered up and stuck her face in the angel’s lap, feeling just a little bit victorious when Umi absentmindedly scratched her head for a moment before realizing what she was doing.

“I want no part in this.” She said flatly.

Kotori was more than happy to leave her be, but it was her apartment, so she couldn’t be blamed for hopping onto the couch across from Umi and laying down, expectant eyes on the other girl.

Umi huffed and continued trying to clean up the wounds on her wings.

Kotori, one, Umi, zero.

She took a nice nap on the couch to congratulate herself on being this petty.

* * *

 

The next day, Kotori normally didn’t have to go in to work anyways, so she decided she should get things sorted out with her new roommate(?) as quickly as possible. First things first was that she needed to understand that, in order to use a toilet properly, she had to use the thing on the side to flush it down, which, apparently, was a difficult to grasp concept for the angel.

Secondly, Umi had absolutely no appreciation for clothing, citing vanity being a sin as her excuse, but Kotori forced her out of her stained and disgusting white dress and at least managed to get her in some trousers and a shirt with the back cut out. Not ideal, but it looked nice on her and Kotori would shamefully admit to choosing the closest pants she had to skinny jeans for….reasons.

Finally, she had to figure out what exactly it would take to get Umi out of her house safely.

So, Kotori called in the cavalry: her only other winged friend, who could (hopefully) beat some sense into the angel.

…..She thought wrong.

“-Practically the same thing?!” Nico repeated shrilly. Kotori winced, flinching away from her friend. She was already starting to regret going to Nico with this, but as her only friend with wings she was – or at least, Kotori _assumed_ she was – the only person who could convince Umi the importance of hiding her own.

As it stood, though, it wasn’t the greatest to be standing in her own living room getting yelled at by a harpy. “Yes, I’ll admit it was a bit of a stretch, but the idea was that it’s more difficult to hide something large like wings and that you could, hopefully, show my _guest_ how to do as much….” Kotori said quietly, doing her best to make herself appear smaller to appease the shorter girl.

It worked, and Nico reluctantly took a breath and gave her a semi-apologetic look before clearing her throat and making a huge deal of something else. “I still don’t see how this was important enough to call me away from my work.”

“I thought you didn’t have work today?” Kotori asked curiously, cocking her head to one side.

“….Yeah, I’m just shitting you, I don’t have anything to do right now.” She admitted, then looked around somewhat curiously. “Where’s the problem girl?”

“In the living room.”

They walked in together, Kotori slinking away from the doorway as soon as Umi’s head turned to spot the both of them and leaving Nico to do the introducing. She made it look like she was suddenly fantastically busy knitting while she acted as though she was not eavesdropping on them.

Nico moved first. “You’re Kotori’s new friend, right?”

“I would not call us friends.” Umi said flatly, and it hurt just a little bit, but Kotori was more concerned with the twitch in Nico’s eyebrow. If Umi had any tact whatsoever, she wouldn’t act like this for the rest of the ‘chat’.

Nico sucked in a deep breath through her teeth. “Got it. Well, you’re living with her, and you can’t safely leave until you learn about a nifty little thing called glamour.”

Umi sat up straighter. “I can’t leave whenever I wish? Why not?”

“Because you look like an alien.” She replied flatly. Umi looked offended at that. Kotori couldn’t help herself.

“Nico doesn’t mean it in a bad way! She means that, if a human saw you, they’d –“

“I know what she was trying to tell me.” Umi cut her off, irritably. “Do try to keep your snout out of my business, Minami.”

Any compassion she may have felt for Umi flickered out like a candle in a rainstorm. Kotori shot her a distasteful frown and skulked out of the room, hoping that Nico’s wide open jaw got put back to use quickly – Kotori _was_ going to warn her about Nico’s temper issues, but this was another good opportunity for revenge.

About a minute later, Kotori heard a sound like a table being knocked over and Nico’s shouting over the background noises. “YOU THINK JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE TALLER THAN ME I CAN’T TAKE YOUR EYES OUT ON THE DAMN SPOT?! AERIAL SUPRERIORTY, ASSHOLE!!! GET OUT! GET OUT!!!”

They rummaged around in the other room for a few minutes until a very irriate Nico made her way into Kotori’s room, ruffled in every sense of the word. She’d evidently demonstrated the glamour she mentioned earlier, because now hers was gone and Kotori saw her struggling to readjust her wings to get through the doorway.

Pun intended, but her feathers looked a little ruffled. Nico pulled a pillow off of Kotori’s couch and screamed into it for a little bit while Kotori pretended that actually worked to muffle the noise and gingerly smoothed down the soft, verdant feathers. Nico’s wings were much more colorful than Umi’s – like the little parakeets, or a hummingbird, except if Kotori actually said either of those comparisons Nico would surely be annoyed with her.

In either case, it made Kotori feel a lot better knowing Nico was more angry than she herself could ever be. When Nico finally stopped being too mad to form coherent words, she let out one last, dramatic huff before opening her mouth. “She’s such a – she’s such a _bitch_ , Kotori! Angel, my ass! Why haven’t you just kicked her out – what happens because she’s an idiot is her problem.”

“I just worry for people, that’s all.” Kotori replied, sighing. “She’s difficult, but it could create problems for a lot of people if she really messed up. I’m kind of hoping if I keep her around long enough she’ll relax her stance on….everything. I really don’t want her to go be a pain in the ass to someone who will actually maim her, you know?” Nico had to give her a begrudging nod at that one. “And besides……..” Kotori chewed on her lower lip as she tried to work out a way to say it without it sounding bad. “…I was hoping, if we get on better terms, she’d be willing to model a few things for me.”

Nico groaned. “Kotoooooorriiiii…!”

“I know, I know, I need to stop with the mean ones. Still, she’s not going to leave anyways, so I might as well.”

Nico sighed. “I just hope you know what you’re getting into. Eli and I are just a call away, okay?” Kotori nodded and Nico muttered an excuse about having to go before she was late to something so that she could get out of there before she got embarrassed, recasting the glamour on herself on her way out the door.

Kotori doodled in her room for a half an hour or so until her conscience got the best of her again and she peeked back into the living room, finding Umi having a difficult time trying to reach a scratch between her shoulder blades. Kotori took a disinfectant wipe and wiped it for her, carrying the discarded wipes to the trash can. Umi didn’t say anything.

She didn’t either, instead deciding she wanted to have some more coffee and settling on tea instead because it was afternoon and she had a guest over. Umi spoke up first. “Are all of your friends so violent?”

“Nico isn’t violent out of any ill intent,” She replied, not taking her eyes off the cups while she tried to fish around for the most innocuous mug she owned, most being joke gifts she received from friends with things like ‘ass woman’, or ‘yes, I bite’ or other assorted lewd jokes emblazoned on the side, and if it wasn’t any of those, it was something about werewolves.

Eventually Kotori pulled out a cool mug she’d gotten from Nozomi that changed designs when it got hot and had a (currently crescent) moon on the side, assuming it was good enough for Umi to be fine with it. She pulled out one with a bunch of wolves running around the sides for herself.

  
“But she _is_ violent,” Umi sniffed, seeming determined to leave the debate at that. “She was not joking when she said she would go for my eyes. I had to shield myself to avoid injury.”

Kotori shrugged and kept preparing the tea. “She only got mad at you because she’s protective. You weren’t being very nice to either of us.”

She wasn’t looking, but Kotori thought she heard Umi shuffle on the couch, probably crossing her arms. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Words can hurt.” She said succinctly, finally taking her eyes away from the mugs. “She came here to help and felt insulted when you didn’t want it, and then angry when she felt you were being rude to me. Nico doesn’t take it well when someone close to her is mistreated. She means well.”

Umi huffed and straightened up further, stiff on the couch. “Intentions and outcomes are two very different things. She could take a different approach.”

“I could say the same about you.” Kotori retaliated, although she wasn’t saying it out of anger so much and skepticism. Umi wasn’t terribly self-aware, it would seem. “For an angel, nobody seems to think you’re very nice. You don’t think there’s another approach you could take?”

“It’s not the same,” She insisted, but didn’t have anything other than that to offer.

Kotori hummed in a ‘whatever-you-say’ sort of way and finished preparing the tea, handing Umi’s mug off to her and settling into the couch opposite her. She watched Umi peer at it suspiciously before looking back up at Kotori, expression laced with uncertainty.

She rolled her eyes and took a sip of her own. “You can’t be so unfamiliar with earth that you don’t know what tea is, can you?”

Umi sputtered back into motion, eyes suddenly anywhere but Kotori. “No, no, I – Of course, I know what tea is, I just was worried…..” Kotori let it tapper off like that despite knowing fairly well what Umi was worried about.

They sat in silence with their tea for a while.

“Any reason you came? From wherever angels are from, I mean.” Kotori elaborated, seeing the confusion crossing Umi’s face.

She looked like she was puzzling over the answer for a bit before her mouth settled back into that hard line from earlier. Damn. “Yes, but it’s not for me to share with you.”

“That’s fair enough.” Kotori said, going right back to sipping at her drink. She was nearly out, but unwilling to move to put the mug away until Umi was done with hers. Patience, she told herself. Eventually Umi would just have to accept that she was going to be nice to her, and then maybe, possibly, be nice back.

It got quiet again. “I don’t bite, you know.” Kotori tried flatly, attempting to engage in a conversation that would, hopefully, be less about Umi and more about mundane topics like jokes.

“I saw a cup in your storage that said otherwise.” Umi said dully.

She flushed. “That was gifted to me. Completely sarcastic, I swear.”

Umi seemed unconvinced, but eventually accepted it with a hesitant nod. “As long as we are on the topic, however….is a bite how you came to be a –“

“No.”

“Ah, so then it must be –“

“Hereditary,” Kotori sighed, interrupting Umi yet again and now resigned to this line of conversation. “Lycanthropy can’t spread the way it did because there aren’t enough werewolves in the first place and even if someone were to contract it, most people would quickly be treated for rabies, killing any infection. There’s nothing left for people to be scared of.”

Umi hummed. She couldn’t place any particular tone, so she was probably just responding for the sake of responding. After a moment, she said, “It’s still not right.”

“And how exactly am I supposed to fix it? It’s better to be honest about not feeling guilty over it than to lie and say it’s a burden.” She said bluntly.

“I suppose I have to give you that one.” Umi sighed.

Kotori mentally gave herself another tally on the scoreboard.

* * *

 

Umi still refused to leave after a few days. The trouble was that she was adamant on not hiding her wings, but equally determined not to blow her cover – assuming she had even thought far enough ahead to prepare a cover – and so she was annoyed about having to stay but also refused to leave.

It was a pain in the ass.

Kotori was convinced she could get through to her, but she was counting today as an ‘off’ day, not bothering with the usual silent, if annoyed tolerance at any of the angel’s less than polite comments about herself. She was lounging around on the couch next to the TV and minding her own business for now.

Umi had taken to sleeping on a mat in Kotori’s room despite initial unease because Kotori decided that she’d been on a sleeping on a couch for too long and that if she was going to stay, she may as well get a mat. She emerged from the room a decent while after Kotori had left, looking around the apartment until she came across her curled up on the couch.

“I’ll never understand how you can be comfortable like _that_.” She said, somewhat snidely.

Kotori yawned in her face and wagged her tail a bit, thumping it against the couch cushions. Umi grumbled and sat on the other side of the same couch so she could also watch TV – at first she didn’t like it, and still considered it a waste of time, but the other night Kotori caught her crying over a movie Kotori had tried to start earlier that day that Umi refused to watch and it was revealed that maybe TV wasn’t the _worst_ thing in the world for Umi – in relative comfort.

That was an improvement! Usually Umi would just sulk and walk right past her.

Kotori tried not to let herself get too excited by that and settled for continuing to doze on the couch until a prickling sensation on her back started up. At first she ignored it, but then the itch got more and more annoying until it was driving her crazy. She made a halfhearted attempt to reach it with her back leg. It did not work. Umi looked at her strangely. Kotori shook herself off and stepped off the couch, seeing if that would do the trick, but the itch persisted. Ugh, this was, so annoying, she –

She scuttled into the other room and tried to scratch it by flailing around on her back on the carpet for a little while. It was ineffective. Kotori whined.

Changing back was too much of a hassle….

But wait! She had someone with hands! Kotori speeded back into the living room at a pace just under a run and parked herself firmly in front of Umi’s legs, leaning onto her and evidently startling her. “What are you doing? Stop that this instant.”

‘ _I have an iiiiiiiiitttch….!’_ She whined, wasting more of her energy on sending the message to her mentally. Umi looked annoyed.

“That’s not my problem and you know it.” She replied, crossing her arms. “Deal with it yourself. Or better yet, change back to normal.”

Kotori tried her best to give Umi the real deal of puppy dog eyes. Umi did not flinch. Kotori pushed her head into her lap, continuing to do so when Umi pushed it away. ‘ _Scraaaaaaatch it,’_ She said insistently, trying her best to keep tone intact. Telepathy could be a little difficult to work with at times.

“I am not going to enable you like this –“

‘ _Umi, pleeeeeeaaaaase?’_ Kotori hit her with another pair of puppy dog eyes.

Umi faltered and within a minute, Kotori had completely melted onto the floor, itch scratched and feeling content with the world once again. Umi actually looked like something along the lines of affection crossed her face before she settled back into that scowl.

Kotori was too tired and happy to notice.

* * *

 

Over the next few days, Kotori noticed that she’d been having less issues with Umi than previously anticipated. There were a few times she would get cranky again, but in Umi’s defense, it was usually only after Honoka visited, and those two clashed heads in a very interesting way for the duration of every visit.

What would happen was, Honoka would make a joke or do something stupid, Umi would attempt to scold her, Honoka would laugh off the scolding only to repeat her jokes or do something described by Umi as ‘even more stupid’, and they would cycle like that for an hour before Umi started yelling and Honoka and Kotori had to go talk about what they wanted to do in Kotori’s room instead of near the front.

Entertaining, but pointless.

As usual, Umi had all her feathers ruffled after Honoka’s last visit, practically glaring the entire time the redhead left and waved cheerfully at the two of them, completely oblivious to Umi’s stare of doom. “Are you certain she isn’t some kind of demon?”

“Yup! Honoka is completely human. She just _acts_ like a nutcase.” Kotori explained helpfully.

Umi seemed dissatisfied with that. “Shouldn’t I be worried she will tell others about my presence? Isn’t that why I cannot go outside without covering myself?”

She shook her head. “Honoka wouldn’t tell anyone, I trust her completely.”

“You put an awful lot of trust in someone too insensible to even take her shoes off at the door to your home.” Umi summarized flatly. “I think you should at least be a bit more strict with her around here.”

“Well, even if you’re staying here, it’s my house, so I make the rules,” Kotori replied, playfully sticking a tongue out. “Honoka is my best friend and I love her, so I don’t have to be strict until it’s serious.”

Umi grumbled her response to that and Kotori shrugged it off and headed back into her room. Surprisingly, Umi followed her. “Need something?”

“I was hoping to figure out what you do for entertainment.”

“I like to draw,” Kotori said. “I make outfits for my work. Want to see any?”

She nodded after a second of thought. Kotori moved to pick up her sketchbook and sat down next to Umi on the bed. She flipped it open and let Umi investigate the designs for herself.

Kotori wondered if Umi was aware of how close they were sitting. If she was, she didn’t show it, but Kotori was aware of how close they were, down to the last, most minute movements of herself and the other girl. If she leaned back, she could feel the soft feathers she’d been able to touch so infrequently. She wondered if angels molted like harpies did. It was a funny thought, for sure, but she got the feeling a ‘divine’ messenger would not have the caveat of molting every now and again.

In real time, Umi got her attention. “You draw very well. I’m curious about this drawing, though.” Kotori blinked and angled her head over to get a better look at the page Umi was pointing to – it was one she recognized and vaguely wished she’d torn out before offering to let Umi go through it. “The person depicted is very clearly me, but I have never worn that outfit.”

She laughed sheepishly. “I just thought it would look good on you! I know you like to be modest, but, I think you’re very pretty, Umi. I think you’d look stunning in a dress like that.”

It had more of an effect than she would have thought. Umi, suddenly terrifically busy staring at the wall, looked away and coughed. “R-really. Well, you were right about one thing, and that’s that it doesn’t do to pamper vanity. I don’t need such an extravagant dress.”

“But you do agree you would look very nice in it, right, Umi?” Kotori asked, prying a bit further. If she got a bit of a yes, perhaps she could use it as an excuse to finally get Umi in some of her nicer clothes and not just cut up t shirts and the same three pairs of plain pants.

“…..I wouldn’t know.” She said, finally.

Kotori’s eyes lit up. “Then it should be fine if I test a theory, right?”

Umi swallowed nervously.

* * *

 

It took Kotori a pretty long time to make the dress in a way that actually satisfied her, but it really was worth it to see it made in just the right way. Umi hated having her measurements taken and the wings certainly made things difficult, if not impossible, so she had to eyeball a few things, hence how long it took. Umi had been making improvements on that front, too, though, because Kotori had Nico come over again and yell at her until Umi at least disguised herself for a solid ten minutes to get an understanding of how it felt. Kotori was hoping it was at least a step towards getting the stubborn girl outside, but she felt like it would take more than that.

In any case, as anticipated, Umi looked absolutely heart-stopping in the dress Kotori made, which was essentially a dress suit with a few major tweaks. All black and white with a red sash and an open back, trousers replaced with a skirt that stopped just shy of touching the ground.

She looked the part of a dashing prince, reluctance aside.

Visibly uneasy, Umi allowed Kotori to take her pictures and try to draft a few more changes, but this was definitely a design she’d be submitting. “It’s only fair because I have overstayed my welcome by so much,” Umi muttered to herself, multiple times over. Kotori pretended she didn’t hear and finished playing around with some ideas.

Once she was finally willing to let Umi change back into her more comfortable clothes, she offered her a winsome smile. “Thanks! I told you you’d look amazing in that!”

“I suppose you did.” She replied, and her smile seemed a little less tight around the edges.

* * *

 

Umi finally managed to get outside, grumpy the whole time for lack of her wings and at the fact that she had to wear a jacket – which she had complained to high hell about, because anything with a closed back was even more foreign to Umi than the concept of high fashion – and while it was just for something trivial like a trip down to the market, Kotori thought it was worth celebrating when they got back to the apartment.

She picked up a cheesecake while they were at the store and happily dug away at a piece while Umi looked at her skeptically. “I hardly understand the need to do this.”

“I really wanted a cheesecake, and celebrating your trip gave me an excuse to get one?” Kotori replied, sounding more like she was asking a question. Umi snorted, satisfied with the answer and apparently finding it funny.

“That’s a decent point, I suppose, but I worry that you might be ‘jumping the gun’, as Honoka would put it. I didn’t enjoy that outing.” Umi said, playing idly with a lock of her hair.

Kotori shrugged it off and tried to pry herself away from the food for long enough to give a good response. “Of course you didn’t. Nobody _wants_ to go around hiding something about themselves, but it’s what everyone has to do. You’ll at least be able to unwind whenever you want at home.”

“I guess, but still. It’s very….odd, not having all my appendages, for any length of time.” She concluded.

She nodded appreciatively. “It’s not quite the same, but I feel something similar sometimes. Sort of like, this feeling that I spent too long one way or the other. I just, have to stretch out and do something because it feels like it’d be wrong not to.”

Umi blinked. “That’s an….interesting way to put it. You don’t have any sort of temptation to pick a side and stick with it?”

Kotori shrugged. “No, never. I don’t know which I started as, so no matter what I might have done, I think it’s a feeling I’m inevitably going to have.”

“That’s understandable,” Umi replied, sounding the most relaxed she’d been while the two were on this particular topic. “I think….that actually makes you a lot less confusing, for me.” She said it with the sort of conclusive air she’d had earlier. It made Kotori feel antsy, but in a good way.

“Oh, really? I guess I’ll have to work hard and re-cultivate that mysterious aura I have.” Kotori teased, feigning disappointment.

Umi didn’t get it, and sounded genuinely distressed. “No, no, it’s nice to have you act so straightforward with me! It’s the only way I understand things!”

“Oh, right, the old timer doesn’t know how to deal with a little misdirection~!”

Umi sulked, seeming certain that Kotori was preparing to go out of her way to confuse her once again. Or just upset that she had called her an old timer. Kotori wasn’t a mind reader, after all. “I’m not old..”

Kotori laughed it off. “I know you aren’t. I’m just having some fun with you. I’m glad you don’t think I’m confusing anymore.”

Umi nodded in relief. “It’s – It’s a lot harder, to dislike somebody that you understand. And, someone that has been kind with you….” She fidgeted in place. “I, suppose that my point was to get around to saying I apologize.”

“This seems sudden…. - I accept, obviously!” She clarified, waving her hands around when she noticed Umi looking dejected at the seeming refusal of the apology. “I just, was wanting to know what brought this on.”

She shrugged and hugged herself, arms up near her shoulders almost self-consciously. “It occurred to me today that this is a different place. Everyone has to change aspects of themselves and stay as close to their morals as they can. It’s how three people with completely different personalities can all still be good people – like Nico, and Honoka, and….well, you.” She let out a somewhat awkward laugh. “I can’t detect malice from any of you three, but you behave differently. It threw me off so badly I assumed I just was missing some critical point to it all, but I haven’t found anything.”

“And you were too embarrassed to consider you were wrong before?” Kotori asked.

Umi’s face went pink at the reminder of her troubles, but for her part, she didn’t shy away from the statement or try to deny it. “Yes. I didn’t want to consider the possibility that I was the problem. It was foolish. Will you forgive me?”

“Sure, Umi,” Kotori responded, gracefully accepting the apology. But just before she cut it off there, an idea came to her. “Buuuuut, as long as you’re in a repenting mood, can I ask for one condition?”

“Of course!” Umi replied quickly, straightening up. “What do you need me to do for forgiveness? Anything.”

Kotori grinned impishly. “You have to cuddle with me.”

Seeing the bewildered expression, Kotori pulled Umi over to the couch and set her down before settling down onto her lap and burying her face in the crook of her neck, very un-subtly trying to feel her wings and coming to the conclusion that they were exactly as soft as she’d imagined. “Wh- why? What kind of condition is this? This can’t be a punishment?” Umi was as confused as ever.

“You said you’d do it~!”

Stuck by her own word, Umi could do nothing as Kotori relentlessly cuddled with her.

Sometimes it paid off to be the patient one.

Still, even if Kotori said that was her only condition, she did end up calling on a few favors from Umi later that day when she got another itch she couldn’t reach.


End file.
